Viz Media is celebrating its 30th anniversary, so congrats to Viz! To mark the occasion, famed manga artists sent signed drawings to the company. One of them in particular, however, stands out in the cool drawing department.

One Piece Film Gold, the 13th feature film based on the world’s bestselling manga, hit Japanese theaters last Saturday, grossing nearly 11 million dollars in its first two days. The movie appeared on a reported 743 screens, the largest for any Japanese movie ever. Anime News Network reports that One Piece Film Gold…

Yesterday, a Chinese company based in Shanghai apparently issued a press release claiming it had purchased One Piece’s copyright from creator Eiichiro Oda for 1.6 billion yen (US$ 15.1 million) and was planning to make a live-action movie. That is simply false, the manga’s publisher said today.

It’s biggest selling manga in Japanese history. You know it, you love it, and it might be wearing you out. Maybe not, but a recent poll shows that some readers are getting tired of the series. Most, however, are not.

In One Piece, Luffy eats the terrible-tasting Gomu Gomu no Mi, which makes his body all elastic. Since this replica is made of synthetic plastic and rubber, it probably tastes terrible, too, but won’t make your body all stretchy. It’ll make you sick!

We notice the big changes. When characters look quite different or the animation isn’t up to snuff. What about the more subtle ones? We notice those less, but they offer an interesting peek at how animators bring their own style to a work.